Decision Making Process: Individual Vs Group

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//For effectively managing the Organizational Problem and Conflicts; effective decision making plays a crucial role. Before understanding the concept of 'Decision Making in the Organization' it is necessary to know about group. So firstly I am describing the group.//

Decision Making Process: Individual Vs Group

Introduction

In general, organizations have various problems due to the conflicts among individuals and groups. In all the organizations, groups and individuals have several conflicts due to variations in the decision making. Groups exist in all the organizations and they affect the behavior of their members. The decision making at group level not only affects the behavior of their members but also, they have an impact on other groups and the organizations as a whole. These groups are essential for the working of the organization.

About Group

Group is basically an assembling of two or more persons. A group can be described as the aggregation of small number of persons who work for common goals, develop a shared attitude and are aware that they are the part of a group and perceive themselves as such. In other words, a group is a collection of more than two individuals who have a good interaction level and accept all the expectations and obligations of each other. For example, the staff members of the organizations and people of a community can be considered as 'groups'.

For the given scenario, the defined group will mainly constitute all the members of the organization. The members of the organization will cover the top management team members such as board of directors or management committees, work units in the various departments of the organization, staff groups providing specialized services to the organization. In the given situation, the above group of individuals will be considered as a 'formal group'.

The formal groups are required in the organizations because they help in the progress of the organizations. The groups in the given organization will help to accomplish the tasks that cannot be done by employees individually. This is also essential to bring various skills and capabilities together, for accomplishing complex tasks of the organizations. This is also helpful for the employees to increase the organizational stability by transmitting shared beliefs and values to new employees. Thus, the groups within the given scenario will be very helpful for solving the problems.

// For effectively managing the people, it is required to understand the differences, of how individuals and groups make decisions and the reason behind this. So, to have clear understanding on decision making, I am explaining the process of Individual and Group decision making.//

Individual Vs Group Decisions

Individual and group decision making are two different aspects of the decision making process of the business organizations. Individual decisions are made by all the managers, from top executives to first line supervisors. The individuals mostly take non-programmed decisions as these are made by the individual under his capacity as a manager or a decision maker. An individual decision is not generally so rational. Individual decision making is a very fast decision process as the decision of an individual is the final decision

On the other hand, group decision making is a very slow process. In the group decision making two or more managers is involved. The group decisions are very complex in nature. Under the decision making process very unique decisions are taken. In group decisions, all the members of the group are jointly responsible for the decision made by them. Participation of various people is the backbone of group decision making (Plous, 1993).

The decisions made by the individuals are faster and very efficient. In general, in all the organizations a hierarchical organizational structure exists where the staff is not team oriented. In this situation, the organization needs a strong ...